Jimmy Vasser nips Michael Andretti in fastest 500-mile race in open wheel
history.

FONTANA, Calif. - (November 3, 2002) - Jimmy Vasser (#8 Shell
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) of Team Rahal capped off an amazing race
that saw 43 lead changes among seven drivers with a pass of Michael
Andretti (#39 Motorola Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) of Team Motorola on a lap
248 restart to win The 500 Presented by Toyota Sunday at California
Speedway. With an average speed of 197.995 mph, Sunday's race was the
fastest 500-mile open wheel event in history - and quite possibly the
fastest 500-mile race in motorsports history - breaking the record of
189.727 mph Al Unser Jr. set at the CART FedEx Championship Series
Michigan 500 in 1990.

Leading with two laps remaining in the 250-lap event, Andretti was a
sitting duck on the final restart of the race after CART race officials
red-flagged the race for Dario Franchitti (#27 KOOL Honda/Lola
Bridgestone) whose car grinded to a halt on the frontstretch as a result
of mechanical failure. As had been the story all day long, the
second-place contender was able to get a run and cruise by the race
leader on the restart as Vasser jumped Andretti and led a two-lap dash to
the finish, crossing a scant 0.400 seconds in front of CART's all-time
victory leader.

After the Shell Team Rahal crew captured $50,000 for winning Saturday's
Craftsman Pit Crew Challenge for the second-straight year, the weekend
was sweetened with the team's first win on California Speedway's
monstrous 2.029-mile superspeedway. The win was Vasser's 10th of his
Champ Car career and the first as a member of Team Rahal. In all, Vasser
led a race-record 148 laps en route to the checkered flag, surpassing the
previous mark of 114 laps led by Andre Ribeiro in 1997.

Andretti posted his fourth top-five finish of the season, leading 37 laps
in all before his very competitive machine gave way to Vasser. The effort
resulted in Andretti moving to seventh in the series point standings with
110 on the season.

Patrick Carpentier (Player's/Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone) of
Player's/Forsythe Racing completed the top three, wrapping up two of the
top-three positions for Ford-Cosworth, which scored its third victory in
the past four years at Fontana. The podium was the fifth for Carpentier
who now stands third in the point race with 145, just three markers back
of Bruno Junqueira (#4 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone) of Target Chip
Ganassi Racing, who finished ninth after starting on the outside of row
one.

Polesitter Tony Kanaan (#10 Pioneer/WorldCom Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) of
Mo Nunn Racing managed to lead 10 laps on the day but eventually finished
2.502 seconds off the record pace. The result was Kanaan's fifth top-five
of the season, leaving him 12th in points with 93.

Oriol Servia (Visteon Toyota/Reynard/Bridgestone) of Patrick Racing
completed the top five after starting 18th on the grid, his first
top-five performance of the year. Servia set the race's fast lap in the
process with an orbit of 31.469 seconds (232.114 mph) on Lap 234.

Recently-crowned 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series champion Cristiano
da Matta (#1 Chevron Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone) of Newman/Haas Racing would
finish a disappointing 11th after starting third as mechanical gremlins
ended a strong performance that saw him out in front of eventual race
winner Vasser as late as lap 231. Da Matta, appearing to be Vasser's
strongest challenger, led 14 laps but frequently swapped the top spot
with the race winner late in the event.

The CART FedEx Championship Series season will conclude at the inaugural
Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante Presented by Banamex/Visa in Mexico City,
Mexico on the 2.75-mile road course on November 17th.

CHAMP CAR TOP-THREE QUOTES

JIMMY VASSER (#8 Shell Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone): "First of all,
it's a great win for me and the Shell team. You don't want to go the
entire season without a win. All the credit goes to the guys on the team.
They busted their butts to get the car put back together after Australia.
They won the pit stop competition on Friday and had great stops today.
The red flag was the right call to make. It's all about the fans, giving
them a green flag finish. Had it not been for Dario [Franchitti] causing
the red flag, it would have been difficult to catch Michael [Andretti]
under race conditions. Michael drove a great race. He expertly knew how
to take away my air and just drove a great race. At the end, he was in a
tough position. The guy leading in that situation is like a sitting duck
out there. I think Cristiano [da Matta] had a little left in his hip
pocket because he really started playing with me at the end. He was going
to be tough to beat."

MICHAEL ANDRETTI (#39 Motorola Honda/Lola/Bridgestone): "After the
yellow (for da Matta's engine), I thought I had the race won. Then
Dario's car lost a motor and I became a sitting duck. What's fair is
fair. The yellow came out and cost Jimmy and the red flag came out and
cost me. The red flag is in the rule book so it was the right decision.
I'm sure Jimmy loved the red flag. Jimmy probably had the best car and
deserved to win. I tried to catch him in turns three and four at the end
but came up a little short. I radioed to the crew, 'I'm done.' First, the
car was pretty good all day. Team Motorola did a good job in the pits and
the Honda engine was strong. In traffic, the car was not as good. We made
an adjustment and started coming on strong."

PATRICK CARPENTIER (#32 Player's/Indeck
Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone): "It was wide open all day. It was
fun racing. I enjoyed it. The car started out with a push and we improved
it on every stop. On the last stop, though, I don't know what happened
but the car got really loose and I couldn't challenge Jimmy and Michael.
Jimmy was strong and Michael was strong. But I got third place and I'm
quite happy."

NOTEWORTHY

* With the win, Jimmy Vasser became the first two-time winner (1998) at
California Speedway in CART's sixth appearance, giving Team Rahal its
first 500-mile race win the process.

* Today's race marked the first one-two finish by American drivers
since the roles where reversed earlier this year when Michael Andretti
out-dueled Jimmy Vasser to the checkered flag in Round 2 at Long Beach.

* The record pace was slowed by only four cautions periods, none as a
result of contact. The day's only minor brush with the wall came in
the pits when Tora Takagi (#5 Pioneer/Denso Special Toyota/Reynard
Bridgestone) spun entering pit lane and came to a rest backwards after
nosing into the wall. Takagi, recovering from a pelvis injury sustained
in last week's race in Australia, suffered no additional injuries.